a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club.
b) Prior Art
Golf clubs which comprise a head and a shaft, are generally classified as one of three types: a wood, an iron, or a putter. Irons are classified by the loft angle of their head. Irons with a small loft angle (for example, from 20 to 30 degrees) are called xe2x80x9clong ironsxe2x80x9d, while irons with a large loft angle (for example, from 40 to 50 degrees) are called xe2x80x9cshort ironsxe2x80x9d. Normally, irons are numbered in ascending order from longest to shortest, for example, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, PW (pitching wedge) and SW (sand wedge).
The head of an iron club includes a face which is the front of the head for hitting golf balls and a hosel on one side of the face for connecting a shaft thereto.
In an iron golf club, the axial length from an upper end of a shaft through the center of the shaft to a sole of the head body is about 40.5 to 39.5 inches (1029-1003 mm) for 1st iron, about 40 to 39 inches (1016-991 mm) for 2nd iron, about 39.5 to 38.5 inches (1003-978 mm) for 3rd iron, about 39 to 38 inches (991-965 mm) for 4th iron, about 38.5 to 37.5 inches (978-953 mm) for 5th iron, about 38 to 37 inches (965-940 mm) for 6th iron, about 37.5 to 36.5 inches (953-927 mm) for 7th iron, about 37 to 36 inches (940-914 mm) for 8th iron, about 36.5 to 35.5 inches (927-902 mm) for 9th iron, about 36 to 35 inches (914-889 mm) for PW, about 36 to 35 inches (914-889 mm) for SW, respectively.
In the meantime, an iron golf club head includes a head body having a rear face formed with a concave portion which is called xe2x80x9ccavityxe2x80x9d, deeply gouged out to be formed into an undercut shape, thus removing a surplus amount of its thickness, so that the position of the center of gravity is adjusted by redistributing the surplus thickness thus removed to other portions. However, there is a drawback in such conventional iron golf club that the weight is liable to incline too heavily toward a hosel or a heel positioned at the base of the hosel, as the hosel and the heel are solid. Accordingly, there is a problem that the center of gravity of a head is normally located too much to the heel or hosel side, rather than in the center of the face.
Further, for a golf player who is powerless, the lower the center of gravity of a club head is, the more easily balls are hit upwardly.
For that reason, Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication No. 9-117536, for example, teaches a certain long iron golf club head in which the specific gravity of a hosel is smaller than that of a head body, to thereby enlarge a moment of inertia at the time of swinging (see paragraph 0008 of the publication). Further, a short hosel has been proposed, or a balance weight has been provided in a head body so that the center of gravity of a head may be lowered, which eventually makes it easier to strike balls upwardly.
On the other hand, it is recognized that a longer hosel makes a positive contribution to increasing stability in addressing balls. As a result, there has been a contradictory problem that a hosel need to be formed shorter in order to make it easier to hit balls upwardly, while it need to be formed longer in order to increase stability in addressing the ball.
To eliminate the above problems, it is, therefore, a main object of the present invention to provide an iron golf club in which it is easy to adjust the position of the center of gravity of a head by preventing the center of gravity from being biased toward a hosel or a heel.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an iron golf club in which balls can be more easily hit upwardly, preventing the center of gravity from becoming too high, while increasing stability in addressing balls by providing a longer hosel.
To attain the above objects, there is provided, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, an iron golf club, which comprises a head body with a shaft connected thereto, said head body including a face in a front, a heel at a lower portion of a first side of the face and a hosel above the heel, wherein a hollow portion is formed in said hosel or in said heel.
According to the structure, it becomes easier to adjust the center of gravity of the head, preventing the center of gravity from being biased toward the hosel and the heel. To prevent the increase of weight of the hosel 7 and/or the heel eventually leads to preventing the center of gravity of the head 1 from getting too high.
According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided an iron golf club which comprises a head body with a shaft connected thereto, said head body including a face in a front, a sole in a bottom, a heel at a lower portion of a first side of the face and a hosel above the heel, either or both of said hosel and said heel being formed with a hollow portion, wherein said golf club is formed such that a ratio of a length of an axis defined from an upper end of the shaft through a center of the axis to the sole of the head body relative to a length of the hosel defined from an upper end of the hosel through the axis to the sole is 100 to 6.0 or above.
According to the structure, it is possible to provide an iron golf club in which balls can be more easily hit upwardly, preventing the center of gravity from becoming too high, while increasing stability in addressing balls by providing such a longer hosel.